Nurses have different duties that they should combine at work, and not all of them are recognized by patients, their relatives, or the hospital. Nurses have official prices for their professional skills, but people typically disregard the fact that working with patients with psychological problems requires numerous emotional efforts from the nurse’s side. I think that convalescent care for people with mental issues would be the priority in my list of services that a nurse could charge for because it is usually not recognized by others.
Patients with mental issues need more emotional support from nurses than other patients, which makes convalescent care time-consuming. Convalescent care is the form of transitional care that nurses provide to make the process of recovery easier for patients. Regular convalescent care is goal-oriented, and it is the short-term process that ends after the patient fully recovers from the surgery. At the same time, convalescent care is not always charged because it is not officially recognized. For instance, convalescent care for patients with mental issues, including PTSD or depression, is not limited because they need regular emotional support from nurses (De Veer et al., 2018). Patients cannot overcome PTSD symptoms and cope with the psychological burden they experience after traumatic events.
It is difficult to measure convalescent care the nurse provides, which makes this sphere underpaid. It leads to in extra work and emotional connection between the nurse and the patient, which is not recognized officially as part of the working process. As a result, the nurse has increased chances of emotional burnout, which might negatively affect their future work and their ability to respond to the challenges in communication with patients. In addition, emotional burnout from excessive convalescent care might change the nurse’s attitude toward patients.
Reference
De Veer, A., Stringer, B., van Meijel, B., Verkaik, R., & Francke, A. L. (2018). Access to palliative care for homeless people: Complex lives, complex care. BMC palliative care, 17(1), 119. Web.